Exodus 20:1-17

International Children’s Bible

The Ten Commandments

20 Then God spoke all these words:

² “I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of the land of Egypt where you were slaves.

³ “You must not have any other gods except me.

⁴ “You must not make for yourselves any idols. Don’t make something that looks like anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the water below the land. ⁵ You must not worship or serve any idol. This is because I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. A person may sin against me and hate me. I will punish his children, even his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. ⁶ But I will be very kind to thousands who love me and obey my commands.

⁷ “You must not use the name of the Lord your God thoughtlessly. The Lord will punish anyone who is guilty and misuses his name.

⁸ “Remember to keep the Sabbath as a holy day. ⁹ You may work and get everything done during six days each week. ¹⁰ But the seventh day is a day of rest to honor the Lord your God. On that day no one may do any work: not you, your son or daughter, or your men or women slaves. Neither your animals nor the foreigners living in your cities may work. ¹¹ The reason is that in six days the Lord made everything. He made the sky, earth, sea and everything in them. And on the seventh day, he rested. So the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

¹² “Honor your father and your mother. Then you will live a long time in the land. The Lord your God is going to give you this land.

¹³ “You must not murder anyone.

¹⁴ “You must not be guilty of adultery.

¹⁵ “You must not steal.

¹⁶ “You must not tell lies about your neighbor in court.

¹⁷ “You must not want to take your neighbor’s house. You must not want his wife or his men or women slaves. You must not want his ox or his donkey. You must not want to take anything that belongs to your neighbor.”